In 1997 the new 'municipality' of Chongqing was split away from
the heavily populated province of Sichuan.
It now forms the Eastern portion of Sichuan and unlike other 'municipal provinces' it has
vast tracts of rural country.

The Yangzi River is the most important geographical feature, snaking its way through the mountainous terrain.

The inland location and difficult transportation has made the area somewhat isolated from the rest of China and
the rest of the World.

During the Second World War and Japanese occupation the Nationalist government had their centre at Chongqing (original
known as Yuzhou)